IBM, SuSE team up on point-of-sale server

Trying to deepen its presence in the POS (point-of-sale) market, IBM on Thursday unwrapped a Linux-based solution that ties together SuSE Linux with Big Blue’s eServer hardware and middleware applications.

Called the IBM Retail Environment for SuSE Linux, the turnkey system essentially offers a centralized management system crafted for the retail market that can control the operations of farflung POS systems.

“Point of sale is the moment of truth in retailing, so retailers want to make sure they have the reliability and stability. But at the same time retailers clearly are seeing the benefits of open-source Linux,” said Tom Peterson, general manager of IBM retail store solutions. “We can provide support around SuSE Linux at the POS so retailers can better focus on their core business,” he said.

The deal also gives SuSE a chance to execute on its longer term strategy of extending the core competencies of its flagship product through other vendor’s platform to a range of vertical markets.

“This [announcement] is basically about extending the capabilities of our major product line to cater to the needs of new users who can harvest the benefits we have accrued in other existing markets,” said Juergen Geck, SuSE’s CTO.

SuSE is including the binaries from its SuSE Linux Enterprise Server edition in the retail version as well as all of the Enterprise version’s accompanying certificates. The advantage of including the certificates in the retail product means it can run on any existing platform that already certifies the Enterprise version, according to Geck.

“This allows us to not only extend the capabilities of our base Enterprise Server system to support other platforms, but helps us extend our systems management strategy, which is going to be a focus for both SuSE and Novell in the future,” Geck said.

By providing IBM with pre-compiled binaries in the retail version of SuSE Linux, it better enables Big Blue “to better customize its own Linux distribution for brand specific deployments,” Geck contends.

The installation and configuration procedures for the new solution have been simplified through four optimized Linux operating systems images for POS terminals, as well as an infrastructure for centralized management and the distribution of software. Because it is sculpted specifically for retail, the overall solution contributed to reducing the complexity of the Linux operating system for retailers’ in-store POS solutions, executives from both companies believe.

The new bundles also offers users a single point of contact for technical support covering the operating system, hardware, and software drivers.

IBM is offering investment protection for retailers already running IBM POS systems, as it can be deployed on select existing IBM terminals. Company officials believe it should appeal to retailers who are now using older DOS operating systems and that need to add more modern applications and services which require a new operating system.

The solution is expected to be available before the end of the first half of this year, according to IBM officials.